NDI Georgia Hosts Webinar on 2020 Parliamentary Elections, Women’s Political Participation

On Friday, June 12, NDI Georgia hosted a webinar about the upcoming 2020 Parliamentary elections and women’s political participation. The event was funded by UK Aid from the British people.

The participants of the virtual meeting included the leaders of various political parties, ambassadors of the UK, Sweden and Norway, and Lika Nadaraia, a member of the CEDAW committee and Gender Task Force on Women’s Political Participation.

Ambassadors of foreign countries to Georgia emphasized the importance of the mentioned topic for Georgia’s democratic, civic and economic development.

H.E. Justin McKenzie Smith, the UK Ambassador to Georgia, noted that giving equal opportunities to be elected to both female and male candidates is crucial for the proper development of society and the establishment of so-called ‘smart politics’ in the country. In his words, the above is also important to modernize today’s Georgian parliament. The Ambassador highlighted the UK government’s readiness to support Georgia in this process in cooperation with NDI and other relevant institutions.

H.E. Ulrik Tidestrom, Ambassador of Sweden to Georgia, said that despite current flaws that need to be addressed, Georgia is still ahead of many countries, where women are relatively less presented in the fields of politics and leadership.

“The 2020 election is very important for the country, and we, as the partners and friends, hope that a better gender balance in politics would serve Georgia well. It will further strengthen the country’s democracy and will provide new opportunities not only for male but female politicians and voters. Moreover, it will contribute to introducing a good political culture in the country,” he noted, adding that the role of independent media and civil society in this process is crucial.

Lika Nadaraia, a member of the CEDAW committee and Gender Task Force on Women’s Political Participation, said that the low representation of women in politics is a serious flaw in democracy.

“Today, inequality is clear in Georgia, and not only in politics. Psychological violence and hate speech is a big problem in many countries, especially when it’s directed to women politicians. Women today have 6 times less chance to be represented in politics. At the same time, our constitution obliges them to ensure equal rights for both parties,” she emphasized, adding that it is necessary to introduce mandatory gender quotas to address this problem. 

“It will be the most effective method to get out of this inequality and get women out of political isolation,” she stressed.

Within the framework of the online meeting, the leaders of political parties discussed their plans and vision on women’s political participation prior to the 2020 Parliamentary elections.

Irakli  Kobakhidze, Executive Secretary and Political Council Member of the ruling party ‘Georgian Dream,’ noted that increasing women’s involvement in political processes in one of the priorities for his team. Un his words, they have already held a meeting with the Working Group on Women’s  Participation and implemented appropriate changes to the Electoral Code.

He added that the majority members initiated on introducing mandatory gender quotas in both Parliamentary and City Council elections, based on which every fourth person in the list of candidates must be of the opposite sex.

„Volume of funding is growing for the parties, so motivation is also increasing. Every fourth person of the opposite sex will be a mandatory quota and in case of every third, parties will be receiving a bonus,” he said.

„In parliamentary elections, it is important to change the balance of gender representation step by step. Today, there are 21 women in parliament, if every fourth would be a quota, the representation would increase to 30. This number then will be increased to a minimum of 37 when we switch to a proportional system,” Kobakhidze explained.

In his words, the bill has already been drafted and there is a complete resource for this initiative to be approved by Parliament.

“We have high hopes that the initiative will be implemented, for which we need growing support from all parts of society,” he stressed.

Grigol Vashadze, the Chairman of the opposition United National Movement, expressed his party’s strong support to the initiative of the ruling party, noting that for a country like Georgia, where we often see totally unacceptable femicide cases, implementation of such initiatives is especially important.

“We strongly support the initiative regarding gender quotas. We should all work together to create appropriate career opportunities for women. This is one of the prerequisites for our cultural and social survival. And the law on violence against women must be tightened by all means,” he concluded.

Irakli Kiknavelidze, a member of the European Georgia Party, announced that their political movement has a different view on how to address the above-mentioned issue, in particular, not to make gender quotas mandatory for parties but to create equal opportunities for both female and male politicians in the electoral environment based on their possibilities and skills.

“We intend to provide them with real power. Existence of competitive women, equal conditions, inter-party democracy, that’s how we are going to change the current reality,” he noted.

Other participants of the virtual meeting included Eka Beselia, a member of the political party ‘For Justice,’ Nino Burjanadze, a member of the ‘United Georgia,’ Tinatin Bokuchava from the ‘United National Movement, Dea Metreveli from ‘Lelo’ political party, Anna Dolidze, a Georgian attorney, Benedikt Hošek from UNDP and civil activist Baia Pataraia. They expressed their views regarding the mentioned issue, highlighting the problems female politicians and ordinary citizens have to face in modern Georgian society, such as cyberbullying and poverty, and noted that coordinated and immediate action is necessary to address them in a timely manner. 

By Ana Dumbadze